This story does not go to eleven (mandatory opening line for a story related to Spinal Tap). The New York Times had a great story yesterday about how the original three members of Spinal Tap – Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer – are going out on a tour billed as “Unwigged and Unplugged.” Of course the original drummer can’t join them since he died after choking on vomit – oddly, not his own vomit. The article describes how founding members Christopher Guest and Michael McKean first bonded in the late 1960′s over a certain model of Gibson guitar they both owned. Care to find out which one? Read the whole story.

It turns out that the guitar was a Gibson ES-335TD. But it was a little different than the Gibson ES-335 manufactured today. The “TD” stood for (“thin-line, dual pick-up”) and it was a semi-hollowbody guitar very popular until Gibson stopped producing it in 1982. We’re a fan of any guitar that played a hand in bringing us the song Big Bottom.